Graduate degrees are administered by the respective departments. While the following provides a general overview of different degree programs, specific requirements do vary from department to department.

Master of Science (MS), non-thesis option: A student takes a total of 9 formal courses followed by a comprehensive exam. The comprehensive exam is typically a written or oral exam on a subset of the MS coursework. Students can complete this option in 3 quarters, or 9 months, through a 3 course per quarter workload.

Master of Science (MS), thesis option: A student takes a total of 7 formal courses and completes a thesis under the research supervision of a thesis committee. There is no examination under the thesis option. Students typically take 5 to 6 quarters to complete this option.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD): The requirements for a PhD degree include a combination of qualifying exams (written and oral) and coursework. The dominating requirement is the completion of a thesis describes doctoral level original research. The average time to degree is 18 quarters (including time towards an MS degree).

For more details on degree requirements and applications procedures, see the departmental web pages: Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.

Further information is also available from the UCLA Graduate Division.